Do we like Josh Cullen?
Our score: 7 out of 10. Hands-on charity work and public-minded posts sit against one resurfaced 2014 tweet that critics called homophobic, with no apology on record.
His solo material gets personal. The first single off the album, Silent Cries, was described by GMA as a vulnerable reflection on feeling trapped in a negative pattern, which is a fair way off the usual idol polish.
The stain is an old one. In January 2025 the Daily Tribune reported that a tweet from April 2014, containing a slur against gay people, was dug up and reposted, and many people, fans included, called it homophobic. He made his X account private, and the Tribune reported no public apology or statement from him.
Some of his fans defended him, with one saying people can change. That's a fair point, but we couldn't find him saying it himself, so the tweet stays as an asterisk rather than a clean slate. Beyond that one tweet, we found no campaigning against LGBTQ+ people, no conspiracy talk and no questionable company.
In September 2025 he and bandmate Pablo Nase posted a Facebook video of sung rants about government corruption. It pulled around 2.3 million views, and Cullen's reply in it was profane. When critics dismissed him as drunk or high, he fired back that artists have the right and responsibility to speak on issues that matter.
The good stuff is real. In December 2024 he joined a Sony Music outreach in Tondo, Manila with the charity Reach Out and Feed Philippines. He performed, got kids on stage for a dance challenge, spoke about overcoming hardship and helped hand out gifts.
So that's the lot: a decent, community-minded artist with one ugly old tweet. If he ever addresses it properly, this score goes up. Until then, we'd say yes, with eyes open.